Wholesaler Booker's first-half sales up, says trading remains strong

* Pretax profit rises 16 pct, revenue up 1.9 pct

* To pay interim dividend of 0.52p/shr

* Makro unit turns around, makes profit - CEO (Adds CEO, analyst comments, details, share movement)

By Noor Zainab Hussain and Aastha Agnihotri

Oct 16 (Reuters) - Booker Group Plc (LSE: BOK.L - news) , Britain's biggest cash-and-carry wholesaler, reported a nearly 2 percent rise in first-half sales and said trading in the first four weeks of the second half was ahead of the same period last year.

It was on track to meet its plans for the year, the Wellingborough-based company said.

Total sales for the first half rose to 2.3 billion pounds ($3.67 billion) for the 24 weeks ended Sept. 12 from 2.2 billion pounds a year earlier, the company said.

Booker, which runs 172 branches supplying grocery, spirits, tobacco and non-food items to caterers, convenience stores, restaurants and pubs in the UK, said pretax profit before exceptionals jumped 16 percent to 67.4 million pounds.

Booker's like-for-like sales excluding Makro were up 2.4 percent.

"Retail had a good 1H, which should help allay fears that the deteriorating grocery climate is taking a toll on Booker," Investec (LSE: INVP.L - news) analyst Nicola Mallard wrote in a note to clients.

Booker bought Makro, a then loss-making business in 2012, from German retailer Metro AG (Xetra: 725750 - news) to reach customers such as small firms and hotels.

Metro (Other OTC: MTRAF - news) , which became Booker's largest shareholder as a result of the deal, sold its 9 percent stake in the wholesaler earlier last month for 196 million pounds.

Booker Chief Executive Charles Wilson told Reuters that the company had turned Makro around from a loss of 20 million pounds to a profit of 11 million pounds last year.

Booker's non-tobacco like-for-like sales rose 3.4 percent in the first half, and Wilson added this was strong relative to the market.

"The market is undoubtedly tougher, but Booker has a number of growth drivers and we continue to expect profits to grow by 15 percent in the current year," Peel Hunt analyst Charles Hall said in a note to clients, calling Booker's results "a stark contrast to the major food retailers".

Tobacco sales rose 0.6 percent in the period.

CEO Wilson said the company expected tobacco sales to be subdued "for a long time to come" but it was seeing the growth of e-cigarettes at the moment.

However, as long as the 30,000 of Booker's independent mom and pop stores customer base sold tobacco, the company would sell tobacco, Wilson said.

Sales at the company's Internet business rose 12 percent to 413 million pounds.

The company raised its interim dividend to 0.52 pence per share from 0.45 pence last year.

Booker shares were up 0.5 percent at 118 pence at 0854 GMT on the London Stock Exchange (Other OTC: LDNXF - news) on Thursday. ($1 = 0.6264 British pound) (Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)